Web forms have traditionally used nested HTML tables to lay out a form.
A traditional page layout includes seven layers of nested HTML DIV tags (DIVs) and tables to create an area for the form. In some cases, the form includes at least 5 layers of nested DIVs and tables (3 layers of DIVs and at least 2 levels of nested tables), and requires at least 12 layers of nested HTML elements to create the form on the page.
Development of web pages using the traditional page layout is generally straightforward. However, because of the traditional page layout architecture, maintaining web pages can be a time consuming, expensive, and difficult effort. In particular, a page layout with nested HTML tables is slow to render and difficult to maintain (e.g. prone to maintenance errors) because a maintainer needs to understand the nested table structure used on the page.
A need exists to solve this problem and others previously experienced with the nested table structure of HTML tables traditionally used for web forms.